M+W sells automation biz to ATS for $350m

M+W says a lack of synergies with its engineering and construction business drove the decision to sell its automation divison to ATS for €255m ($348m).

The Canada-headquartered firm Automation Tooling Systems (ATS) announced today it was buying M+W’s Process Automation and ProFocus businesses - which contributed approximately €170m to the firm’s overall revenue of €2.6bn in 2013 – and expects the acquisition to go through by the end of September.

Whilst the majority of revenue in the division comes from the automotive industry, 26% of sales come from the chemicals industry and a further 13% from pharma and biotech. According to spokesman Michael Gemeinhardt, the decision to sell was to allow M+W to focus on its high-tech engineering and construction of infrastructure businesses.

He told in-Pharmatechnologist.com the “the automation business – focusing on software development for the control and visualization of critical production processes – has little synergies with our core business,” and therefore the German firm decided to divest.

Teh acquisition include a workforce of 1,000 - including approximately 750 engineers - with 51 locations situated in 16 countries. ATS said in a statement it intends to “enhance its portfolio, serve existing M+W and ATS customers and build new customer relationships.”

As for existing customers, Gemeinhardt told us “current projects will of course be executed,” adding a “contract is a contract.”

Pharma Automation

Automation processes such as production management software and analytics software help consolidate manufacturing operations and standardise applications across a business, and thus can help pharma companies cut the time to commercialisation and lower costs.